Sir Gerald Kaufman, MP, makes a speech in the House of Commons explaining his ancestry as an orthodox Jew and calling on the British Government to withold its support for the Israeli Government's policies, which he calls both terrorist and foolish.

Cultures divide on the basis of the authenticity of adjectives used in "I am X adjectival phrase" (IAXAP) self-descriptions. IAXAP self-descriptions, such as "I am empathic", are judgments and are almost invariably only true momentarily, leading hearers to conclude that the speaker or writer is dishonest.

In healthy family relationships allowance is easily made for such discrepancies of belief by one member of the family and evaluation by others. But in more distant relationships such discrepancies cause refractory moments in which distrust erupts.

Calling attention to self-contradictory beliefs and/or behavior is something that can easily be introduced too early in interventions, whether therapy or mediation. Yet it must be done and then the intervener's self-beliefs, whether explicitly expressed or only held implicitly can likewise become problematic.

In the Eastern Mediterranean, the situation -- relative to therapy/counselling/mediation/facilitation -- seems to me to be complicated by the following major factor: the 'clients' are not paying the 'mediators' anything. To the contrary, the great power representatives offered for mediation/facilitation are being provided free to both sides. Therefore, if we are to introduce mediation/facilitation models to the situation, some cost to the feuding siblings must be introduced or the 'feuding siblings' won't pay attention. This 'must' is not, however, an alternative to developing a strong relationship between mediator/facilitator and the 'feuding siblings'. The two -- a mediation cost and strength of relationship -- must somehow both be introduced in parallel.

Given that, my belief is that successful interventions will work initially on the relationships between, on the Jewish side, the spiritual zionists, cultural Zionists, and territorial Zionists, and on the non-Jewish side, the sufi Muslims, the cultural Muslims, and the hard-core Islamists.

My experience in bridging disagreements within organizations and relationships tells me that all disagreements can be traced to their roots in IAXAP judgments -- simply because IAXAP judgments can always be, and frequently are, interpreted as less than honest by an observer who has not yet enjoyed much affinity with the speakers of the IAXAP judgments.

This tells me that the process that eventually will work in the Eastern Mediterranean is one in which linguistic bridges are first constructed between the nominal members of the (three) Zionist segments and between the nominal members of the (three) Muslim segments.

Such separate processes can be facilitated with "I have X emotion now" (IHXEN) statements -- as is very briefly described at this link:

If so, the practice of IHXENs on both sides of the Muslim-Zionist and Arab-Jewish divides will eventually make facilitation of an agreement between the parties of this "mega-feud among siblings" that much easier.

At the same time, non-linguistic affinity-creating processes -- ping pong matches for example, would accelerate the learning of skills of replacing IAXAP judgments with IHXEN statements. Additionally, we might make the process much faster if we could train a cadre of Hebrew-English and Arabic-English translators to carry out the IAXAP-IHXEN conversion within their translations. But if so, the end-result of general harmony in the Eastern Mediterranean would still require leaders at many levels to practice ping-pong affinity realization at the same time as taking the trouble to become proficient in IHXEN replacement of (conventional but problematic) IAXA judgments.

JEWISH STATE HAS THE NATURAL RIGHT TO EXIST AND PROTECT ITS EVERY INCH BORDER FROM HAMAS ATTACKS.IT IS DOUBTFUL WHETHER MORSI CAN ADOPT
A BALANCED AND SECULAR APPROACH TO END THIS WAR. AS A MATTER OF FACT
HE BELONGS TO AN ORGANISATION WHICH CAN NOT TOLERATE ISRAEL. AS SUCH
THIS ESCALATION BETWEEN ISRAEL AND HAMAS MAY EASE FOR THE TIME BEING BUT IT REMAINS ALIVE TILL MUSLIM TERRORISM CONTINUES TO SPOIL THE GAME.

Does it have a natural right to steal Palestinian lands,pushing them into smaller and smaller areas? Israel seems to think so. Given that Israel has abandoned the rule of law and by its actions has demonstrated that they do not believe Palestinians have a right to exist, why do people expect Hamas to play fair. Also you cannot call it a war when the casualties are 50:1. Anyone sane would call that a massacre, or a war crime. The Israelis used white phosporus on the population of Gaza,which uneuivocally amouts to a war crime, though admittedly far more Palestinians died from bullets, mortars, shells and missiles. Additionally, when the deaths are on the order of 50:1 why are Hamas terrorists and Israel not. Israel's capacity to terrorise the Palestinians makes anything Hamas could ever do pale by comparison. It's not a political argument. It's just looking at the facts.

I fear Dr S K is continuing the old route to perpetual conflict, as practised by extremists on both sides. Israel is a fact. But so are the Palestinian people. Israel has rights to protect its territory behind internationally recognised borders. But where are these borders? Israel redefines its borders, it settles on Palestinian land and then claims that the people need protecting. A bantustan type settlement pattern develops, totally unviable as far as a nation state is concerned. This is undoubtedly the objective, so should the Palestinians be 'allowed' by the US and Israel to create a state, it is ineffective and ungovernable. This may seem to protect the state of Israel, but while it means that Palestine as a state never exists it also provides the basis for continuous conflict, mad desparate somewhat pointless assertions of national pride: the rocket attacks for one. Even the Jews of the Warsaw ghetto defied the might of the Nazi army and fought bravely for over a month against hopeless odds. The only solution the Germans had was to destroy the ghetto and take the survivors to the concentration camps. When the Israeli Miniter of Internal Affairs talks of reducing Gaza to the Middle Ages, it sounds like he would advocate a similar solution for Palestinians. Naturally this fear of the rest of the Arab world wanting to wipe out Israel or 'push it into the sea' affects the psyche of the people of Israel, who fear any aggression so close to home. They can point to bomb attacks within their borders and to the past wars when the Arab nations tried to destroy the fledgling nation state. But that is the past and the past must be put aside if not forgotten. The future, if it is to be peace must be both as just as it can be and as realistic as it must be. This means Israel MUST accept the Palestinians right to a viable sovereign nation and for Palestinians (with the rest of the Arab world) to accept the right of Israel to a sovereign state within the 1967 borders. In the short term, the leader of Egypt, Mohammed Mursi offers the best chance of starting this process. It will take courage, for Sadat paid for the peace with Begin and Rabin for his agreement with Arafat, both killed by fantatics from their own people. But both achieved a small step in the right direction and it is extremist thinking not to encourage such steps.

If 3 Israelis are dead … how many Arab/Muslims need to be dead in order to be PROPORTIONAL? It's a math quiz?

BTW … Terror is coming from Gaza at the Israelis … there can be no doubt … don't down play that … just because ISRAEL takes care of its people better than Hamas does not make the terror felt by men, women and children any less than that felt in Gaza. People are people.

During the recent centuries Palestine did not belong to the Arabs - it was a part of the non-Arab Ottoman Empire.
There was never a political "Palestinian Lands"

Both Arab and Jews living in Palestine had only civil rights.

After the collapse of the Turkish empire after WW1, it was divided into Arab states (Iraq, Syria, Saudi Araby, Yemen), Christian state (Lebanon) and a Jewish State (Palestine, including Tran-Jordan. This was ratified by the League of Nations in 1926.

How does evacuating all Israelis (in fact, all Jews; who'd have thought Judenrein would make a comeback after 60 years) from Gaza and giving the entire territory, the same extent as when it belonged to Egypt through 1966, to the Palestinians (who, in case you don't get the point above, did not actually have Gaza before the Israelis captured it in 1967, so this is the first time they've actually had any control over the region) constitute "pushing them into smaller and smaller areas"?

From where I stand I note very little reference to the mass stealing of Palestinian land. I note no reference to the illegal Israeli settlements. Maps showing how the Palestinians have been pushed into smaller and smaller parcels of land are freely available on the internet. I guess when you push people into a corner they will fight regardless of the punishment they recieve. In an ideal world Netanyahu would find himself looking at an arrest warrant from the European Court of Justice for warcrimes. No-one here seems to remember the Israelis using phosphorus on a civilian population. It used to be smallpox laden blankets.

"No-one here seems to remember the Israelis using phosphorus on a civilian population."

And you here, seems, do not remember that Israel gave Gaza back to Palestinians with no preconditions, uprooted 9000 settlers and left settlements intact to Palestinians. Either that or your are an ignoramus at best, liar at worst.

Take a look at historical maps. When you can show me Palestinian lands getting larger instead of smaller I will concede the point.I would prefer it if you elevated your language above mere name calling. It marks you as what you would attempt to make of me.

What “historical maps” you would prefer to look at? Ones that predates the Roman Empire perhaps? Do you know that Turks came to current Turkey from very far away? Do you know that Arab armies actually came, as you might guess, from what is called Arabian Peninsula and concurred the current Middle East. Would you like to return former eastern Prussia back to Germany?

Don't bother my friend. When a race specially in supportive of a borderline fascist government (not all, as there are incredible Jewish advocates of human rights) are in the belief that a land (far larger than the current Israel) is their holy right and that anyone whom goes against it is subhuman cannot be debated with on a constructive, logical level. Only way to make Israel humane is to force their hand which can only be achieved by nations greater than itself hence collaboration between Russia and west, otherwise even blatant massacres of children are perfectly justified in their unreasonable sense of self righteousness.

if their lands are getting smaller it's because they STARTED a war and lost. When the U.S. gives California back to Mexico (they have not been asking) then u may have a point. The history of war is such that when people fight over land - for natural resources, religious issues - the victor gets the land. Why r muslims fighting all over the world? Ie: Sudan, Mali??
Israel makes major scientific contributions to the world. If they give the Palestinians their land, the Palestinians would probably spend the following year blowing up all the buildings as they did when given land before and then bring in the camels and complain they have nothing.

" … If they give the Palestinians their land, the Palestinians would probably ..."

Surely, you didn't really mean to say that (i.e. "their land") ?

And from the tone of your comment, it sounds like you think the Jewish people are worth more to the world than the Palestinians, or Arabs, or Muslims … and while we're at it, why not include Africans, native Indians of the Americas, Aboriginal people of Australia, etc.

Truth be told, prior to the Balfour declaration of 1917, the British government was of the opinion that the Jewish state should have be established in the country of Uganda … I'll let you muse over the hidden sub-text of that one, in the light of your comment.

One way Egypt could really show leadership is by agreeing with Hamas to have a military presence in Ghaza to stop the rockets firing at Israel and at the same time guaranteeing protection of Ghaza. As a quid pro quo, Egypt would open its common border with Ghaza to allow freedom of movement of people and trade. It would at the same time work on closing the tunnels and securing the area from those who wish to use this stretch of desert as the firing point for rockets into Israel. This would be a first step. The second is to seek a solution that sees a reversal in the bantustanisation of the West Bank and a recognition of Palestinian sovereignty. The fact that Israel objecs to Palestine being recognised as state, yet wishes Palestine to recognise its sovereignty over the occupied territories is unbalanced. Both sides (Hamas included) must recognise the rights of the others. With Morsi as president, the association of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas and the Arab Spring, this is an opportunity for a real solution to the troubles.

The aerial battle between Israel and Hamas has proved that the Israelis will no longer be able to watch televisions sitting in the living rooms of their occupied homes, picture streams of the ongoing atrocities being committed by the Israeli Air Force and the Navy on the defenseless children,Women and elderly people of Gaza.They will have to run for shelter every where in the so called promised land if Netanyahu is not restrained by denying him another term.

If there is no respite coming from Gaza … the land invasion will end any resistance from Gaza and the ability to launch missiles! Israel could in effect 're-take' Gaza … that's a solution as well.

What would be best is NOT to make out as if … 'the Arab Spring' has been a wonderful thing … hello? It's brought a bunch of Islamists to the leadership … we'll have to wait and see what that brings to the table. The jury is out.

From my POV … a political settlement acceptable as long as Israel agrees … I'm not fixed on any one point but the survival of the sovereign Jewish State …

Yes,the jury is out to put the warmonger Netanyahu into a fair trail for the senseless atrocities being committed on the defenseless people of Gaza.He is a war criminal and deserved to be treated accordingly.
Time is running out very fast for the unnatural Jewish State.Unless,the
Cold blooded murderer Netanyahu is removed from power by the sane Israelis,peace in the region will remain elusive.Bring down the killer Netanyahu from power and then go for peace negotiation which is a two way traffic.A political settlement can be achieved only when it is acceptable to both parties--not Israel alone.

We should not have to wait on the Egyptian President to broker a peace. The leaders of the west, foremost among them President Obama, should demand that Israel stop. If they believe Israel to be justified in its bombings to a limited extent, they should specify to what extent and the consequences of crossing the line.

When the Libyan minister to the U.N. suggested that Gaddafi might commit genocide, world leaders mobilized to take him out of power. When the Interior Minister of Israel says that they are going to bomb Gaza back to the "Middle Ages," there is little discussion.

Perhaps world leaders should mobilize to remove Netanyahu from power should he go too far. While we might all disagree what constitutes "too far," it is clear that Netanyahu will bomb more infrastructure and kill more civilians than the vast majority of other world leader, and perhaps all of them, deems necessary.

When Hamas transgresses international norms of acceptable behavior, they are blockaded. And most leaders of major world powers accept this consequence. We should not only be talking about how to broker a peace deal but also about what kind of consequences Israel should suffer if it transgresses international norms of a proportionate response (again, whatever we may agree these norms to be, and they should be norms we seek to apply to all conflicts).

If we really want to end the conflict, we should be talking about placing sanctions on Israel should they cross some red line. Then Morsi's job of brokering a peace would be a whole lot easier.

I don't take either "side" in this conflict; Hamas are bastards, Netanyahu is a bastard, they work so well together keeping each other in power. It's only unfortunate that so many other people on either side of the border are kept from just living their lives with nothing more violent passing between them than nasty glances.

What if Gaza would think about education an hapiness and not be obssessive about destroying israel?
And if Egypt would feed its own populatin and have the money which is given to the Gazaouis?
Tha obsession about Israel is the best way to yield the failure of all these muslim countries!

From 1948 Israel fighting with neighbouring Muslim countries. How many centuries Israel want to live this kind of horrible tension?Is it worth living?What Israel will gain from this killing and murdering ?Is Israeli want to follow their old out of date religious teaching eyes for eyes and teeth for teeth? Are they forgotten from birth of Judaism they suffered killing and murdering, wondering from countries to countries as a refugees?Are they forget Holocaust of Hitler`s regime?Are they want to consider why they were treated very cruel way all over the world and got respect and honour in India?.Can learn any lesson from India who welcome all religious sect and creeds given them respect and honour?

I seem to recall "India who welcome all religious sect and creeds given them respect and honour" having a bit of trouble now and again with Muslims, and Sikhs.....
I note that in the subcontinent and the Middle East, Britain did not leave the region divided in stable fashion.

I have knee jerk reaction to blame the British for all this mess: their colonialism into the middle east for OIL to fuel their ships, the Balfour agreement. Why is it that every place the British colonized, civil war erupts soon after ( India v. Pakistan). Artificially drawn borders have a history of NOT working !

I have a little comfort, reading your comment, lhs, that you acknowledge your desire to blame the British as a 'knee jerk reaction'.

The facts are that the British took over Palestine from the Ottoman Empire as an aftermath of WWI, receiving a UN mandate when the UN replaced the then defunct League of Nations. In no sense was that 'colonialism'. The British then kept the best peace that could be kept between Arab and Jewish residents subject to growth of the Zionist philosophy (a philosophy that many world-class Jewish thinkers, like Albert Einstein, abhored). No other power was either willing or able to do that. After WWII, in huge hock to the United States for arms purchases, the British Treasury was unable to fund its administration of Palestine, and PM Atlee so informed both the UN and the US. Having then no alternative offered by the Truman Administration, Britain handed its UN mandate back to the UN, at which point Zionists seized the initiative to declare the foundatiion of the State of Israel. Since that time the governments of Israel have been, with some heroic exceptions, at loggerheads, sometimes erupting in war, with most Arab governments -- until recently when Egypt, for example, negotiated a peace treaty.

Isaac Deutscher once described the case of the Jews fleeing Europe to Israel as the case of a man jumping out of window and landing on another. In this light, the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is a case of right against right.

The Israeli novelist and peace activist characterized the founding of the Jewish state as the case of a man in a ship wreck who clambers to sit upon someone else's small plank. But he noted that there is a vast moral difference between sharing the plank and pushing the original inhabitant into the sea.

Any history of Israel needs to include what happened after the Jewish minority was given its state in the then British Palestine: they ethnically cleansed 700,000 of the original inhabitants. A sizable portion fled to Gaza, where they grew up in refugee camps.

This may be old history, and it does not justify Hamas firing on civilians. But it is at least as relevant to this conflict as the Holocaust. It is surprising and telling how seldom this founding event gets mentioned in the mainstream press. If the man you pushed off the log and into the ocean starts pulling at your leg, basic decency would suggest that when your friends around you, all comfortably sitting on logs of their own, bemoan your fate, you at least give some passing mention of why he is struggling in the water in the first place.

You said: "… they ethnically cleansed 700,000 of the original inhabitants …"

In November 1947, the United Nations voted to crate 2 states … one Arab and one Jew. The Civil War against the Jews of Mandate Palestine began until May 1948 … when the Jewish State was declared. After May 1948, and the withdrawl of British forces … the Arab States attacked the nascent Jewish State with the intent to expunge it from the map.

That is the precis of the history … the Arab/Muslims vacated many positions inside the land … some others were pushed from their homes … but what is clear is that … NONE WHO LEFT WERE ALLOWED BACK INTO THE JEWISH STATE AFTER THE END OF HOSTILITIES. That remain the situation up until today!

What you didn't take notice of … was in fact … a POPULATION TRANSFER … 750,000 JEWS FROM ARAB/MUSLIM COUNTRIES transferred to the Jewish State as Refugees (they were disenfranchised of all their possessions, in most cases) … therefore … this POPULATION EXCHANGE NEEDS TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED BY BOTH THE ARAB/MUSLIMS AND THE ISRAELIS … COMPENSATION PAID AND LET'S MOVE ON …

And how, exactly, did the ancient and mighty Middle Eastern entity known as Syria become subdivided into Transjordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, all the various little states like Kuwait, Qatar, etc. plus a small remnant of Syria retaining the original name, all with randomly assigned and essentially indefensible borders crossing ancient tribal and national divisions, so that every country faced not only border conflicts but also internal tribal conflicts with allies across the borders, if not because the British administrators had this tendency to give any two bit tribal ruler who inflamed their crypto or overt homosexual attractions absolute rule over some huge swath of land?

It makes his assertion and call that "this (Jewish/Muslim) POPULATION EXCHANGE NEEDS TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED BY BOTH THE ARAB/MUSLIMS AND THE ISRAELIS … COMPENSATION PAID AND LET'S MOVE ON" make undeniable sense.

Gaza mobilization is an Israeli pretext for a greater war and 1967-style attack on Iran and also militarily expanding the amount of Golan territory held.
The premeditated attack on Gaza also sharpens very effective Iron Dome against responding Arab missiles, regardless of type and launch points.
Meanwhile, Western leaders like president Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper support and encourage Israeli military adventures. Very Strange.

As part of the plan, the "Israel+USA+Saudi+Qatar+Turkey+Some-Europeans" camp have weakened Syria tremendously through funding, assisting, and arming the opposition and by sending their special forces to destroy or take over the strategic installations of the Syrian army (corrupt by the way) so that the illiterate Syrian opposition forces can have a photo opportunity in the media on the ruins of these installation. It is funny and weird that USA+Europeans+Saudis are now fighting the Wahabis/Salafists/Taliban in Afghanistan and other places after they established them in the first place in 1980s but at the same time they fund them and provide them with logistical support and weapons to go to Syria and fight. Syria is so weak, and now it is the turn of Gaza.
The latest hostilities in Gaza were caused by Israel assassinating a Hamas leader, but this leader was sold out by the Hamas’ out-of-Gaza political leadership: Khaled Meshaal, who is now a Qatari puppet (because he was bought by Qatar like everyone else in the ME). Khaled Meshaal, his allies in Hamas, and the Qataris want to weaken the military leadership of Hamas in Gaza because the ones with the guns on the ground dictate the political course. Israel is taking care of that by killing them so that a long-term political compromise could be arranged between Hamas and Israel as part of the Israeli+Muslim Brotherhood deal. Gaza will not be firing missiles to Israel in the future. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Turkey, Libya, Syria and Tunisia are not hostile to Israel. Whatever you see in the news is just for show. Anyway, the Muslim Brotherhood is an old MI6 invention. A deal between Qatar+Turkey+Egypt was arranged with Israel. Meshaal and his allies in Hamas are part of the deal and their military top commanders have to be out of the equation.
Hizballa has lost its geographic support base in Syria and non-Shia areas of Lebanon, so it will not be able to carry any long war with Israel. Its population base will be a huge burden because it has nowhere to go or flee in the next war, they will be sitting ducks and their areas will be wiped out, and Nasrallah knows that. They can fire few rockets here and there but nothing serious and Israel will absorb it.
The stage is set in 2013 for the bombing of Iran. By then, Gaza and Syria will be out of the equation and cannot fire missiles or do anything really. So Iran will be alone and will be destroyed in order to revive the economies of Europe and USA – and destroying few areas in the GCC too because of Iranian missiles, but that is acceptable because it will create huge construction opportunities like what happened in Libya. And it will all be funded by the oil+gas of the GCC region. However, what is the thinking of China and Russia and what will they do to stop the plan?

What it means in Economist 1000 "terrorist targets" with double"?
Because in genuine, Palestinians are Freedom fighters to free their land from occupiers.
Why Hamas fired rockets to their occupied land Israel?
Because Israel murdered Ahmed Younis, 13 year old, November 8
Why Israel killed Ahmed Jabari, a wing leader of Hamas?

Why Israel killed Ahmed Jabari, a wing leader of Hamas?
Because Hamas Is ready to negotiate for Peace with negotiator Gershon Baskin. On the morning that he was killed, he hold a Proposal of Extended Ceased Fire. Jabari was going to drop a gigantic Peace proposal to Tel Aviv.
Why Israel launched premptive attack?
Because Israel got success in systematic provocations to bomb any Peace Efforts, to genocide Palestinians, and to forward Great Israel dreams.
Why Israel targeted Gaza War II?
Because Israel should display their war games in Gaza massacre as alternative to Iran.
Why not Iran?
Because in Gaza Open Prison, Israel got full impunity from their allies to do anything
Why Israel is closed to respect Human rights of Palestine?
Because the Palestinian babies they killed is not enough to be vampirized.
Why Israel dont want to annex West Bank?
Because Israel people would become a minority within their own state. So a snake problem to wear democracy jacket.
Why Israel wages an expensive war?
Because his likely slave, back support for them unconditionaly with aid billion US dollars.

Or, to look at from the other side of the mirror, Israel, foreseeing potential conflict from Iran, is pulling the teeth of Iran's forward lines in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria prior to and possibly preventive of something serious breaking out, with the threat of bilateral nuclear war lurking in the back. Same scenario, different narrative, Rashomon style.

Good insights into the Muslim Brotherhood, though. Not sure how familiar you are with the history, but for the youngsters in the audience, in the 60s the Muslim Brotherhood arose as an apolitical Islamist institution in the Middle east, and were favored by Israel and the US as an alternative to the PLO, and opposed by the political and nonreligious (accepts Palestinian Christians) PLO. When Hamas arose as the Palestinian branch of the Brotherhood, they too were supported by Israel as an alternative to the militants. As evidence of corruption in the PLO mounted, Hamas' opposition hardened and they took the opposite tack of doing the charitable and community work that the PLO was stealing money from, and thus they gained popularity.

For whatever reasons, Hamas ended up opposing the Oslo Agreement; perhaps because Fatah, the outgrowth of the PLO, signed on? and ended up flipping to the more militant side of the divide, and we ended up with Israel backing Fatah and the PNA while Hamas plays the spoiler. So, The Muslim Brotherhood has kind of an advantage re influence over Hamas.

In fact, Hamas itself is fragmented, and the ongoing bombardment of Israel seems to be conducted by the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' somewhat independent military arm, who make a point of not "taking orders" from Hamas' leadership, who they accuse in turn of corruption and abusing the funds destined for support of the Gazan residents; while the official Hamas leadership would like to avoid the conflict. But as I've posted endlessly here and elsewhere, militants on both sides need conflict to feed their power. And who wouldn't rather march around shooting rifles in the air and proclaiming oneself a revolutionary hero who looks forward to martyrdom to save his people, rather than spending his days trying to placate citizens who want the pothole in front of their house fixed, when there isn't enough fuel to even keep the electricity turned on.

I'd advise anyone trying to advocate for one side or the other to avoid references to killing kids. In your case, as upset as you are over the death of young Ahmed Younis, I point you to a prior post of mine:

"On March 26, 2001, at about 5 p.m., a Palestinian gunman opened fire on the Avraham Avino settlement from the Palestinian-controlled Abyu Sneineh neighborhood. The Palestinian fire hit a ten month old baby girl, Shalhevet Pass, in the head, killing her instantly. ... 'The enclave playground was swarming with children [at the time of the shooting].'" -"Killing of Shalhevet Pass and Wounding of Yitzhak Pass, March 26, 2001", Center of the storm: a case study of human rights abuses in Hebron District, Human Rights Watch. pp. 64–65. The shooter was found to have deliberately targeted the child.

"The Israeli Army on Saturday announced the West Bank city of Nablus and the surrounding villages a closed military zone following the killing of five Jewish occupiers in a nearby Jewish settlement... The attackers managed to escape after killing the parents and three children aged between three months and 11 years, Israel Radio reported.
The group said in a press statement that 'the heroic operation is a natural response to the (Israeli) occupation crimes against our people in West Bank and Gaza Strip.'" http://www.arabnews.com/node/370880 The three month old was virtually beheaded.

"On March 11, 2011, five members of the Fogel family were killed in their home in the Israeli town Itamar by Palestinian terrorists from the Awad family. Hakim Awad led the attack, killing the parents Ehud and Ruth and three of their children, aged 11 years, 4 years, and 2 months. ... Hakim Awad's aunt also participated in the [PA TV program 'For You'] and referred to the terrorists involved in the killings as 'heroes,' calling Hakim Awad 'the hero, the legend.' This prompted the PA TV host to add: 'We, for our part, also convey our greetings to them.'" -http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=6245

etc. etc. This is not to say in the least that past crimes are any justification for killing of Palestinian children, or noncombatants in general. Quite the opposite; this is to say that all you folks who are completely fired up over the suffering of one "side" and couldn't care less about the suffering of the "other side" are missing the main point. The sides in this conflict, as in many others, are those who want to stop the killing of any children, versus those who want to pick which kids are permissible to kill and which are not, whichever race they claim to prefer. http://www.poetrynorfolk.net/The_Poetry_Site_of_Vernon_Moyse/The_Dead.html

The population explosion in Gaza … where you have a HUGE % OF UNEMPLOYED MALES BETWEEN 12 - 22 … no prospects for a job … no prospects to marry (without $$) … has turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy of Jihadis to be led to the slaughter … martyr's of Hamas

This wasn't Israel's doing … it's being replicated in all Arab/Muslim states …

50% of the POPULATION under the age of 24
50% of the POPULATION illiterate
50% of the POPULATION discriminated INCLUDING WOMEN & MINORITIES like Christians!!!!)

The alternative is to migrate Israel state to Alaska. To replace it to Palestine Land is not realistic. Even with arsenal that have killed 117 victims, including Ahmed Younis 13 year old. Or 1300 most of civilians in 2009 (GoldstoneReport)

It is ironic that you recommend ethnic cleansing for the residents of Gaza since an easy majority of them are already the victims, or else the descendants of the victims, of a previous ethnic cleansing waged by Israel in 1948 and now accepted as such by most mainstream historians of the conflict.

Perhaps it is a good rule of thumb for us on here that whenever someone starts speaking of ethnically cleansing their opponents, we ask them to leave. This appears to be the norm for being taking seriously on the international stage, and at the very least, we should be able to agree not to take seriously anyone on here advocating ethnic cleansing.

The folks living in Gaza were provided an alternative to act like a civilized society, leave or be eliminated. They have opted for the latter. So they don't have any reason to exist, in the world scheme of things if they all disappeared tomorrow no one would care or miss them.
Its never been about ethnic cleansing it has always been about learning your place and loving in peace its something those who live there will never grasp

Because Israel want to cleanse out Palestinians completely
Because Israel was founded by violent terrorist group like Irgun Zvai Leumi, Hagganah, and Stern, success in blew up hotels, assasinated UN envoys, carried out hundreds of illegal killings, imposed policies of GENOCIDE, driving off millions of Palestinians from their homes and land usung barbaric terror tactics

What we see is the systematic roll back of the Israel spear of influence. Every time Israel is facing a general election, it uses some kind of proxy war to boast the influence of the party in power. We have seen this pattern of behaviour for over 16 years now.

It used to be that the Israeli's would attack Lebanon or Palestinian territory. Which ever was convenient. That all changed in 2006, when Israel attacked Lebanon, and go t a nasty bloody nose, and was forced to withdraw after 4 weeks. Israel lost 2000 soldiers, had two of its frigates hit with a missile, and was unable to defend against a barrage of missiles from south lebanon, that forced it to evacuate more than 2 million people. All having been said and done, it was a major strategic loss.

Now Israeli politicians are reduced to beating up the improvised, ill trained and ill equipped Gaza's every time they need to wrestle with public opinion. It took 15 years of preparation for Hezbollah to beat back the IDF forces with such resounding totality. It will take the same for Gazan's if they find a local alley to supply and support them.

The Iron dome is nothing but a fly shooter. Let it face a barrage of modern missiles as opposed to the current home made pipe bombs that the Gazan's are firing at it, and it will be shown to be totally ineffective. All we see before our eyes is a publicity stunt by Israel, perpetuated by world media.

Under the disguise of security they are killing Gazan's by the masses and the world is standing by silently.

To be an honest broker one has to be able to call the facts and truths out. The fact is that there was no threat to the security of Israel, and this fiasco was created for the purpose of spinning public opinion. This is a terrorist act by a state, to kill innocent people for the sake of poll numbers and public opinion. Those who support Israel are nothing more than states sponsoring a state of terror.

If Israel wants a place in the modern future middle east, it has to accept the rules of humanity and stop waging proxy wars.

Israel is defending its territory from rocket fire from Gaza … the Hamas terror organization has deemed it appropriate to 'ratchet up' the firing of rockets in the last few weeks … they are the ones determined to initiate a 'blow up' …

The last time this happened … it was Hamas who began the increasing rocket attacks as well … which begat the war in 2008-09 …

Your 'fractured fairytale' version of history is simply wrong … you are a Liar.

You said: "… Israel lost 2000 soldiers …"

You LIE … the total death toll was 121 Israeli dead and the Lebanese/Hezbollah death toll was ~ 1500 dead

The Israelis obliterated many parts of Lebanon and struck much infrastructure inside Lebanon … they are still recovering …

The upshot of their experience is that the Israelis dedicated the next years to creating an anti-missile defense system which is called IRON DOME … they have another in the works and coming on stream called DAVID'S SLING … the next war with Hezbollah will devastated the state of Lebanon … returning it to rubble …

The Israelis will not accept … any BS coming from any Arab/Muslim country and landing on their territory … as a sovereign state … they can and will defend themselves from attack from anywhere. They are not afraid of anything the Arab/Muslims can throw at them. Frankly … despite Hezbollah's bragging about 'winning' the war … it was Nasrallah who admitted ON LIVE TV …

"Hizballah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said in a TV interview aired Sunday that he wouldn't have ordered the capture of two Israeli soldiers if he had known it would lead to such a war."

Like all Arab/Muslims … you like to brag at your prowess … but the fact is … Hezbollah HAS NOT ATTACKED SINCE 2006 and NASRALLAH HAS BEEN UNDERGROUND SINCE THEN … HE NEVER IS SEEN ABOVE GROUND … LOL

The only honest thing to say is war is hell … there will be blood … but thankfully … there will be a lot more Arab/Muslim dead than Israeli dead … after all there are 300 MILLION Arab/Muslims and only 6 Million Israelis … therefore to keep the proportions … 15 Arab/Muslims must die for every Israeli … let the chips fall where they may …

Israel simply stubborn occupier, consistent to GENOCIDE Palestinians, since 1948. Smart deceitful tactic to robb Land of Palestine, but stupid in long time perspective. Naked stranger in online international community, blind country in democracy values, the fool in human rights mindset. Go ahead to the brink of bankruptcy of normal life. I predict, the new provocateur to WWIII, is Israel. No one can stop Israel. Wild wild middle East.

Tzatz: it is people like you, who relish in the disproportionate death tolls carried out by Israel, and who laugh at the suffering of your opponents, that lead so many in the world to think of Israel as a rogue state.
Your arrogance and lack of humility just fuel another round of bombs raining down on southern Israel.

If I believed you to be rational, I would think that you actually like these bombs falling on Israel, because it gives you a chance to kill more Muslims. But I don't believe you are being rational right now, and if you think about it for a moment, you will realize that your fervent support for Israel maybe doing it more harm than good.

No doubt, you are probably not like this usually. War can make us crazy. But when you lose your head in war, you should be careful lest your actions set in motion a chain of events that causes you to lose your country.

I'm talking proportions … it's a mathematical term … I gave it to you to use as a measure in order to determine IF the death toll is proportional … it's Grade school math … you understand the concept the Arab/Muslims might not due to their lack of math skills … I'm simply pointing it out …

Arab/Muslims are never cowed by death and destruction … they believe that they will arrive at the goal … somewhere down the line … this is their 'fate' … there will be NO PEACE with the Arab/Muslims … only the continued understanding that Israel will defend itself and its People … they will inflict grievous pain and suffering on those that attempt attack the sovereign Jewish State …

There can be NO DISCUSSION … except the terms of surrender of Arab/Muslims to their fate … Israel will continue to maintain its hold on its sovereign territory … therefore … the only actions that will cause Israel to lose is INACTION … this will NEVER BE THEIR FATE … after 2000 YEARS without a state … the sovereign Jewish State is here … Arab/Muslims will/must accept it or Arab/Muslims will dying trying to attack it … you will be watching on your TV's and either change the channel or continue to watch … its not entertainment … it's life and death for the Jewish State

Wow thanks for the History rewrite total Israeli casualties for the 30 days was 165 the vast majority were school children. Pretty much what happens when ever the Arabs want to tweek Israels nose. They attack women and children because they aren't capable of fighting man to man.
Lebanon, Palestine Hezbollah Jordan Syria and Egypt are a joke when it comes to engaging an enemy and fighting.

This is a blatant play by Hamas to appear as victims of Israeli aggression and a pretty stupid one. Other than bringing more misery to the Gaza population it will have achieved nothing other than relatively minor damage to Israel, something Israel can easily absorb. Perhaps Hamas imagines the world will come to their aid if Israel invades. It has not done so in the past and will not do it now.

Hamas wants a ground invasion … in order to gain sympathy with the world … no one likes to see mother's crying and children injured … BUT THAT'S THE REALITY OF WAR … therefore … Hamas wants to gain the upper hand at the expense of its 'hostage' citizen population!!!! Remember … Gaza is a POLICE STATE … it's a TERROR STATE … there is NO FREEDOM OF SPEECH … YOU CAN'T GET A TRUTHFUL ANSWER FROM ITS POPULATION … THE REPORTER'S THERE ARE ONLY STOOGES FOR THE HAMAS PROPAGANDA MACHINE.

HAMAS knows it cannot win a war against Israel … they are not INTERESTED in winning a war … they are interested in appearing as the VICTIMS of aggression … appearing as the poor/pitiful receiver of unrestrained violence … appearing as the David vs Goliath …

HIDING THE FACT THAT … HAMAS IS A TERRORIST ENTITY WHOSE GOAL IS THE ELIMINATION OF ISRAEL … WHOSE GAZA POPULATION IS HELD HOSTAGE BY THE POLICE STATE OF HAMASTAN … WHOSE PEOPLE WERE NOT ASKED IF THEY AGREED TO A WAR AND VOTED FOR IT … IT'S ALL A PROPAGANDA DEVICE … WITH THE PEOPLE OF GAZA AND THE STATE OF ISRAEL AS PAWNS IN A GAME …

No country would enter into war they could not win EXCEPT if they never intended to win and ONLY WANTED TO GET A PROPAGANDA VICTORY … what low life scumbags … they all deserve death … every single Hamas leader who began this 'theater of the absurd' …

Israel is really testing her American supplied fire arms, missiles and the most trusted iron dome missile shield to prepare for the bigger war of the Century, the coming IRAN WAR. The current Israeli war is not going to end unless the grand testing operation is complete and received green signal from the Pentagon.

Without fully exonerating Israel, I wonder what the motivations were behind the rocket attacks from Gaza that started this latest round of violence. I have a couple of suspicions:
1. Iran is suffering in Syria and encouraging further destabilization of the region
2. Hamas wants Netanyahu to win the election and thus giving him an opportunity to look strong before his electorate (while claiming victory by terrorizing Tel Aviv and other places). (The logic being that Likud's main competitor in the election is very interested in making peace with the PLO, thus undermining Hamas' position in Palestine.)

Anyone with a balanced position on this issue interested in commenting?

There have been 750 rockets fired from Gaza this year. If I'm not mistaken, that's a new record. Israel is expected to show restraint and they usually do. When they get some intelligence that allows them to target someone who is responsible for these attacks they respond. In this case, there response was successful and it was followed up by Iranian rockets being fired at Tel Aviv. That required a response.

The response was an attempt to eliminate all of the Fajr-5 missles, many of which are positioned next to civilian buildings. Why? Because it makes Israel look bad when they kill women and children. Or, because they just don't have the urban planning to hide missiles away from civilian targets. Nobody is really saying. They are doing their best to avoid casualties, but as you can imagine, blowing up live explosives produced a much bigger explosion than the bomb you used to destroy them.

The Israelis in the south have come to expect rocket fire. The Israeli government can't be expected to tolerate rockets flying into their most densely populated commercial center. And, Iron Dome won't get them all.

Israel is really testing her American supplied fire arms, missiles and the most trusted iron dome missile shield to prepare for the bigger war of the Century, the coming IRAN WAR. The current Israeli war is not going to end unless the grand testing operation is complete and received green signal from the Pentagon.

I am sorry, but you answered the wrong question. I understand completely why Israel is currently on the offensive. If I am not mistaken, even Shimon Perez, the dove, was calling for a military response to the Gaza rockets.

My question is: why would Hamas be firing all these rockets? They knew what the response would be. What were they seeking to gain? Were they responding to calls from Iran to expand the regional violence in the face of their diminishing prospects in Syria? I though that maybe they were seeking to bolster Netanyahu's prospects in the election so that Olmert would not get in and make peace with the PLO. I am sure there are other possibilities...

If Iran was involved in the decision making process, they undoubtedly were hoping to forestall the inevitable attack by Israel on their nuclear arms facilities. If indeed that is the case, not only will they fail, but they will reinforce Israel's resolve to emasculate Iran's ability to attack Israel.

While the U.S. may have an interest in stopping Iran, the threat for Israel is visceral and the need to preempt the possibility imperative. Even Iran has made no attempt to indicate otherwise.

Apparently it made sense to someone at the time. Even Obama seemed a bit miffed about the whole thing. If he tried to act any more undeserving than he did, people would have just chalked it up to false modesty anyway.

Made sense to some one?? sorry the Nobel peace award has become what the academy awards are they no longer are given for talent or achievement but rather as a far left political statement None of the last 10 recipients did anything thing to warrant the award Had Barak had any sense of morality he would have refused it

The problem is Isreal own's teritory it does not police. This would be like unincorporated Oklahoma panHandle where all the gangsters went to 125 years ago. If Isreal owns the Gaza strip, they should police it themselves. And during WW II, Emperor Hirohito was never bombed from the air so that someOne would surrender Japan.

Israel doesn’t own Gaza. It was called disengagement. Then PM Sharon said that his plan was designed to improve Israel’s security and international status in the absence of political negotiations to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. About nine thousand Israeli residents within Gaza were instructed to leave the area or face eviction by the night of Tuesday August 16, 2005.

But Sharon also felt that once Israel left Gaza … and if there was continued aggression from Gaza … HE would have a free hand and pound them …

The 'reality' is … that world opinion does not allow Israeli 'pounding' of Palestinians … the world believes and has been sold the POV … that Israel must be very precise in its response to Arab/Muslim aggression … There is a double standard at play here that Sharon did not anticipate OTHERWISE … he would not have left Gaza and would have remained in military control of the Gaza Strip!

after the Israeli's left, not one rich Arab cousin stepped up to help the Gazan people. There should have been a wall put up as in medieval times and Israel should have had no contact with Gaza. Why didn't Egypt help them or offer to take the Gazans into Egypt? At this point the Israeli's must say good bye to Gaza. Maybe Morsi can take them in exchange for the U.S. giving them some extra aid.

I know all that. But either Sharon was dishonest or it was pure loss of mental abilities. The reality then was the same as now and it was clear even then that world “progressive” will not allow Israel respond appropriately. Exactly what we see.

"Maybe Morsi can take them in exchange for the U.S. giving them some extra aid."
Don’t hold your breath. Israel offered Gaza to Egypt looooong time ago. You don’t get it, other Arabs don’t care about Palestinian Arabs. The latter are just pawns in the game. I once asked my Egyptian coworker a couple of years ago what he thought about some other Israeli-Palestinian problem of the time. Here is his answer as close as I can recall. “I don’t care about Palestinians. They can as well go to hell but the land is ours. It belongs to us, Arabs, and the Jews can live under our rule. They, Jews, lived well before under us.”